The hidden cost of failed agent runs: one task may burn twice the credits on Codex

ToneAromatic178 · reddit · 2026-09-15

A Reddit user who tried Tencent's WorkBuddy (cheaper than Claude/Codex, with DeepSeek V4.1 Flash currently free) raises an overlooked issue: the hidden cost of agentic workflows. A first failed run plus a tweak and retry still costs money — he estimates the same task on Codex would have burned twice the credits. Failed runs, unnecessary retries, edits to unrelated files, and thrown-away generated code all add up fast, alongside the time cost. He asks the community how they manage this.

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